The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-04-23
SOME COMICAL NAMES.
2aco ections of Queer Things Discovered
in English Parish Registers.


,asco ectIons of Queer Things Discovered
in English Parish Registers.
"he peculiar nomenclature and
nhraeology which characterized the
New Highlander of century ago, and
whia still distinguish him from all the
othe inhabitants of the United States"
saba prominent citizen of St. Louis
wbdwas born and reared within the
sacrd precincts of Boston, care. not
matte to the soil, but came over in the
Maiower along with the strange Gus
tomand stern religious principles of
the 'uritans. A Boston preacher iss
sneda book some time last fall giving
thS esult of his researches into the old
chroicles and church records of towns
like Old Boston, Banbury and other
Purian strongholds during a summers
soiorn in England, and he found that
nealy all the phrases, expressions and
MANS peculiar to New England were
in cmmon use there three hundred
wear ago And have myself found
in tudying English nomenclature,
whih, by the way, is a hobby of mine,
thamany of the names, family and bap-
tisnl, of to-day are but contractions
of be extravagant titles given by the
earlier Puritans 1t is true we do not call
our children Zeal-of-the-Land Jones'
r'sarch-the-Scriptures Thompson, but
We lave plenty of such baptismal names
kksA.sfce. Patience. Constance, Faith,
Hope, Beutah, Justice or Mercy. In
surnames Farwell is derived from
the old Puritan Christian name Fare
Well; Hopewell, now a surname, was
once Hope-Well. Tiffany comes from
Epiphany, Truhart from True-Heart,
and so on. The names peculiar to the
Puritans, such as scriptural phrases,
pious CALCULATIONS or godly admonitions,
began to prevail in England south of
the Trent, and particularly in and
around Banbury, about the time of
Queen Elizabeth's reign. 1t was not
the mere result of cranky notions, but
the practice was instituted with de-
liberate purpose, the intention being to
separate, as far as possible, the Puri-
tans from the goddess and make them
distinctive in name as well as in habits
and religious belief. Scripture names
they would gladly have taken, but the
publication of the Geneva Bible had
long before flooded the country with
Hebrew names, and so, instead of Ne
hemiah OF Zerubbabel, they took Good
Work and Hate-Evil. For upward of a
century they gave no other names to
their children, and the combina-
tons were sometimes very conf
pal. For instance, 'Praise-God Bare
bone, the head of Cromwelrs Par
lament, is said to have had three
brothers named Fear-God Barcelona,
Jesus Christ Came-Into the orld-to-
Save Barcelona, and f-Christ-Had-Not-
Died = for Thee Thou Hadst- Been
Damned Barcelona. Fancy sitting down
10 dinner with brother with such a
name and having to say, 1f-Christ-Had.
Not Died for-Thee- Thou-Hadst-B Been
Damned, please pass the butter This
! gentleman, however, was never called
] by his full name, but was Familiarity
called DR.. Damned Barcelona. Such
titles as Observation-Disclosures Faith,
Ielp-on-High, Learn-Wisdom, What
GOODWILL and Zeal-for-God were com,
mon. The virtues were especial favor
ties. Sir Thomas Carew, Speaker of
he House of Commons in James and
Charles reign, had four daughters
Patience, Temperance, Silence and Pru
1ence. The name Silence was es
pecially popular as a feminine title
and it was used probably to stand as ;
constant reminder of woman's grea
falling. Diligence, Obedience, Perse
7erance, Humiliation and Repentance
we're in common use, the latter grow
ng so monotonous that Sorrow-for-Sir
was sometimes used by way of u change
| Another class of names were eXhorta
1ory sentences, pious CALCULATIONS, o
professions of sorrow for sin, such as Re
ioice, Give Thanks, Be-Strong, Sin
Deny, Be-Steadfast or Do-Good. A MAJ
named Skyes is said to have had fou
sons named Love-Well, Do-Well, Die
Well and Farewell. Strange to say
Farewell Skyes was drowned, an,
Live-Well, Do-Well and Die-Well wer
the chief mourners. In an old registe
at Bishopsgate is an entry that read
something like this: Sept. l, 1611.-
Job-Rakt-O ut-of-the-Ashes, being born
the last of August in the lane going t
Sir John Spencer's back gate, and ther
laide in heape of asshes, was baptize
the 1st day of September following, an
dyed the next day after If he ha
lived he would probably have bee
called Ashes for short. The nam
Dancell- Dallphebo- INTERCHANGEABLE
ery-Gallery-Cesar, which appears i
the parish register at Old Sevenford,
probably hit at Puritan eccentricity
A Sussex jury of about the time of tn
Restoration contained the followin
names: Accepted Trevor, Redeeme
Compton, Faint-Not Hewet, Make-Peac
Heaton, God-Reward Smart, Stand-Fas
on-High Stringer Earth Adams, Gale
Lower, Kill-Sin Pimple, Return Spe
man, Be.-Faithful Joiner, Fly-Debat
Roberts, Fight-the-Good-F ight-of-F ait